TINY LITTLE CHANGES // A FILM REVIEW OF "WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR"

BY MATEO MORENO

Casey (Anna Cobb) is a lonely teenager transfixed on her online culture. She's bored and decides to disappear into the world of an online game called WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR.  It's a game, a dare, a creepy pasta even where users film themselves after they've begun to the game. Each user seems to begin to develop strange symptoms, creepy and disturbing. It's the idea of sharing together, being a part of something online as a community, even if it's scary or disturbing. Casey doesn't seem to have any real world friends and has what seems like a troubling home life (her father is only heard off screen). So she disappears into this reality, ready for whatever comes of it.

For a lot of the film, we only follow Casey from her computer, only occasionally seeing her exist outside of it. That is until another player of sorts enters the picture. An adult man named JLB (Michael J. Rogers), who hides behind a creepy Slenderman like avatar, finds something that connects him to Casey. He's pulled into her story and wants to help her, or does he? We see videos of other players and physical transformations happening. With Casey, she doesn't notice anything physically happening to her, but emotionally she is changing. Slowly and uncomfortably. 

What's so unnerving about We're All Going to the World's Fair is not any jump scares or traditional spookiness. It's how authentically it captures a side of internet culture that exists in many corners today. With only a few exceptions, we are behind a screen, watching everything unfold slowly and it is unnerving. It does also require a lot of patience, but if you give it that, the film will stay with you, hauntingly and suprisingly. The sense of needing something, anything, blares out of Casey and Anna Cobb is wonderous in the role (her first feature role), capturing the confusion and unsettling nature of it all perfectly. Michael J. Rogers adds a genuine creep factor to every step as you are unsure of what his intentions are. This is a film that speaks to a very specific moment in time, one that may not read as relevant in years to come. It may play like a strange time capsule, showing the loneliness of wanting to be seen online. Writer/Director Jane Schoenbrun has captured a very unique thing here, a film that may not even play that well the first time you see it. But it seeps inside of you and if you're like me, your thoughts won't be able to let it go. Much like Casey, your desire to know more will draw you back in.

GRADE: A-

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Jane Schoenbrun STARRING Anna Cobb, Michael J. Rogers NOW PLAYING IN SELECT THEATRES.